Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Who’s Pete Townshend will be presented with the prestigious Les Paul Award at the 28th Annual Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards, to be held Friday, January 25, at the Anaheim Hilton during the 2013 NAMM Show.

Presented by the TEC Foundation for Excellence in Audio, the TEC Awards recognizes outstanding achievement in professional audio technology and production.

The Les Paul Award, named in honor of the legendary musician and inventor who passed away in 2009, is presented annually to honor individuals or institutions that have set the highest standards of excellence in the creative application of audio and music technology.

Russ Paul, son of Les Paul, will make the presentation to Townshend on behalf of the Les Paul Foundation, sponsor of the award. Past recipients include Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Al Kooper and other musical giants since the award was instituted in 1991.

“Following in Les’ footsteps, Pete Townshend personifies both guitar wizardry and technical prowess in both studio and live music performance,” said Michael Braunstein, Executive Director of the Les Paul Foundation. “He is a true original and a natural choice for the Les Paul Award honor.”

Townshend will publish his memoir, “Who I Am,” in October; for more details, click here.

The Who will release “The Who Live In Texas ‘75” on DVD on October 9. The concert was filmed at The Summit in Houston on November 20, 1975, at the start of a massive US tour to promote “The Who By Numbers,” the band’s seventh album. Preview video from the new package here.

The Who recently closed the 2012 London Olympics and will begin a North American tour November 1 in Sunrise, FL.

The trip, which marks the band’s first dates on the continent in four years, will see the group perform their iconic 1973 double album “Quadrophenia” in its entirety, along with a selection of Who classics. For a list of tour dates, click here.